1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing and a processing system of a gaseous volatile organic compound by using a gas turbine. The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-021163, filed Jan. 30, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Factories, which use various types of volatile organic compounds such as toluene, xylene, or the like, are provided with treatment facilities for processing exhaust gases containing volatile organic compounds. As a method of processing a volatile organic compound in such treatment facilities, exhaust gas containing the volatile organic compound is firstly supplied to an adsorption apparatus, and the volatile organic compound is adsorbed in an adsorption agent such as activated carbon, and then, the volatile organic compound adsorbed in the adsorption agent is desorbed from the adsorption agent by using steam and mixed with the steam. Thereafter, the steam which has adsorbed the volatile organic compound is condensed, and the condensed water is distilled, such that the volatile organic compound and the water are separated. Then, thus separated volatile organic compound is burnt and decomposed.
In the conventional treatment method, in addition to the cost necessary for installing a treatment facility, the running cost of the facility increase. A technique has been proposed for processing and decomposing a volatile organic compound, without extra costs, by using an existing gas turbine provided in a factory (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publications No. 2003-322324, No. 2004-036492, and No. 2004-184003).
In the invention described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-322324, a hazardous substance is scavenged from a volatile organic compound, and supplied to an air intake port of a gas turbine, and then compressed along with air in a compressor. The compressed air containing the hazardous substance is supplied to a combustor and fuel gas is concurrently supplied thereto, and they are burnt to thereby drive a turbine. The hazardous substance is burnt in the combustor and thus rendered harmless, and then discharged into the atmosphere together with exhaust gas of the gas turbine.
In the inventions described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publications No. 2004-036492 and No. 2004-184003, waste fluid containing a volatile organic compound is directly supplied to a combustor and fuel gas is also supplied thereto, and then, they are burnt in the combustor to thereby drive a turbine. The waste fluid which possesses a hazardous substance is burnt in the combustor and rendered harmless, and then discharged into the atmosphere together with exhaust gas of the gas turbine.
Incidentally, in the above-described method of processing the volatile organic compound, steam is used whereby the volatile organic compound is desorbed from the adsorption agent. Therefore, at the time of desorbing, a part of steam is condensed and changed to condensed water. The condensed water is discharged as drain water from the adsorption apparatus and contains a volatile organic compound. To realize complete decomposition or processing of the volatile organic compound, it is necessary to carry out a decomposing process with respect to the volatile organic compound contained in the drain water. To carry this out, it is necessary to particularly provide wastewater-treatment equipment for decomposing the volatile organic compound contained in the drain water, and therefore, there is a concern that cost of equipment increases. Further, the larger the amount of the drain water, the larger the wastewater-treatment equipment necessary becomes. Thus, the cost of the wastewater-treatment equipment is increased.